On July Landmarks

So, last July, we had a huge landmark with the discovery of a new particle key to how our universe works – we now know it is a Higgs particle, something we’ve been waiting for a very long time. See many earlier posts about that.

This July, just this weekend, we had another huge landmark – a British tennis player won Wimbledon!! (Ok, I’m only partly serious about listing this alongside the Higgs result…) I am actually doubly excited about this, because in addition to Andy Murray actually winning, my old favourite player Ivan Lendl was coaching him. Lendl, a fantastic player, was a symbol of determination and hard work during his playing career, but never won Wimbledon, so for me this win was partly for him too. Murray said as much in his speech during the award ceremony, so I was happy to see that. For me, there is a serious point here – it is good to see success on such a huge stage for people whose public characteristics are first and foremost dogged determination and hard work, and that it wss only of secondary importance whether they fit some narrow definition of being charismatic or not.

So, given two fantastic groundbreaking Julys in a row, what can we look forward to in the next few Julys? Dark matter particles? First contact with an alien species? England winning the World Cup? Ok, maybe That last one is going a bit far…

Well, I thought about listing the Ashes, but then decided that in recent times wining the Ashes did not seem like a momentously difficult to achieve goal, but then I’ve not been following closely. Has the England cricket team fallen into a shambles again?

Well it’s only day one so we haven’t had much time to fall into shambles and agreed the prospect of actually winning the Ashes is certainly not as unlikely as it would once have been. Andy Murray’s success at Wimbledon was a delight to behold.

Also in British July sporting landmarks, last year Bradley Wiggins became the first Brit to win the Tour de France. Chris Froome is in the lead this year, also riding for Great Britain (though born in Kenya).